After years of speculation, Sabre is officially out of the hotel game, selling off its hospitality solutions unit (a.k.a. SynXis) to TPG’s private equity arm for $1.1 billion in cash. The move frees up Sabre to refocus on its airline tech roots and chip away at its $4.5 billion debt load.
Many independent hotels, along with big brands like Hyatt, Wyndham, and Preferred, rely on Sabre Hospitality products, most notably its CRS and booking engine. Interestingly, the buyer is a private equity firm, not another travel tech player. I always thought this would’ve been a perfect “tuck-in” for Oracle, which has long struggled on the CRS and booking engine front. The transaction is worth about $960 million,most of which is going to debt reduction.
It’ll be interesting to see what TPG does with the business—my guess is a period of refocusing, maybe a tuck-in acquisition, followed by another flip (sale). I’m slated to attend a Sabre Hospitality Consultants workshop in June, which (as of now) is still on. I’ll be curious to hear what’s said about product, support, and branding going forward.
My personal opinion? Sabre has some very strong products—and great people—but years of underinvestment have held it back. If that changes under new ownership, this could be a net positive for hotels.
